Monster
by SwampTreader
Summary: What does Korra fear of becoming?


"What!?"

"It has to be done, Korra."

"I won't do it!" Korra all but screamed at Tenzin. She frantically glanced around at those sitting around the room. Now she knew why they were all here. There was no way she would just accept what was asked of her. So they were Tenzin's backup. _Traitors, _She thought as she gave them all a glare. Pema sat faithfully by her husband, Lin Mako, Asami and Bolin were all here too.

"Think of all the advantages you'll have," Tenzin said calmly

"Over other people! I can't stoop to that level, I won't! No other Avatar has had too!"

"It's for your own safety," Mako said gently.

Korra rounded on him. "Oh, shut it Mako! You know I can take care of myself!"

"Apparently not! You weren't the one who had to come and save your butt from Tarrlok!"

"Excuse me!?" She roared leaping to her feet.

"Maybe if you would just stop being so stubborn-!" He yelled back standing and sticking his neck out much as she was.

"If I remember correctly I busted _MYSELF_ out, on my _OWN_!"

"If _I _remember correctly _I _was the one pulling you off Naga! You couldn't even stand up! Pfft, 'on your own'," he scoffed rolling his eyes.

"Well if you regret it so much why didn't you just leave me there," she said coldly.

"Stop it!" Bolin yelped. Everyone's eyes snapped to Mako's usually collected brother. "Mako you should have just kept your big mouth shut and **you**, Korra, are going to learn this whether you like it or not!" He finished with a nod of his head proudly.

"I couldn't have said it better myself," Tenzin piped in. Korra glared daggers at him. She gave everyone one good hard look and then stormed out of the house. Just as she jerked the door open, Katara stood right in front of her.

"Sorry I'm late."

"It's already been decided for me," the young avatar snapped angrily. Katara looked up at Korra with solemn eyes. For a minute, Korra could imagine her waterbending master as a young, scared teenage girl.

"I understand the battle going on inside you. I faced it too." She sighed and motioned for Korra to come outside with her. The snow crunched under their near-matching boots as she followed Katara to the edge of the island and looked out to Yue Bay. "When I was still traveling in the war I had to learn it too. I didn't want to but I _had _to. My brother's life was at stake, the _Avatar's _life was stake. And now," she sighed sadly, "the responsibility has fallen to you, Avatar Korra."

"But-"

"I know," she nodded. She didn't say anything for a minute. "For years I acted as though it never happened. I acted as though I wasn't what I was. It's a curse more than a gift. Sometimes in the middle of the night when I would wake from nightmares, I would wish I was never born a waterbender. But as I got older, I realized that I hadn't lost control of myself, of my bending, of my mind. I realized that I wasn't a monster, even if I was forever marked as one. A person only becomes a monster by living as a monster. You will not lose yourself, Korra.

"But I'll still be a-"

"Yes. You will be, Avatar. You will be part of the most elite of waterbenders. The most dangerous. And just because you have been given this great burden, it will not make you something you are not. You will always be Korra. Just as I am Katara. I am a bloodbender, but I am not a monster. And neither will you be."

A week passed after Korra spoke with Katara. She was no more eager about learning the mastery of bloodbending, but she carried the weight of the responsibility a little easier. She stood dutifully with Tenzin and Katara as her Bloodbending master finally arrived.

The small boat docked and a gangplank was lowered. A woman walked down. Korra immediately recognized her clothing as tanned animal skins. She was from the Southern Water Tribe too. As the woman walked closer to them, Korra realized that she was not much older than herself. And as she drew to a stop in front of them, Korra realized there was a a darkness about her. It made her recoil.

"Thankyou for coming all this way Master Mingan," Tenzin greeted with a bow. "This is Avatar Korra," he introduced sweeping an arm towards Korra, she bowed respectfully. She didn't really know what to say. It didn't _feel_ like an honor _or_ a pleasure to meet this woman but she couldn't tell her that.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Avatar." Master Mingan said. Korra looked at Mingan. She was shorter than her but it was hard to tell how big she was under all the furs she wore. Master Mingan turned her attention to Katara. "It is an honor to see you again Master Katara," she said giving a deep bow to the elder woman.

"I feel much the same Master Mingan," Katara answered. Mingan then turned back to Korra.

"I wish to start as soon as possible." Korra nodded and led the way towards the large paved area she used to practice her bending. It was a long, awkward walk in utter silence. But it gave Korra the chance to begin to size up Mingan. She noticed that she had her hair lopped short, just above her shoulders. This in itself was curious. Usually Water Tribe women kept their hair long. Mingan walked with an air of dignity around her, her shoulders looked strong even under the layers of pelts. Korra tilted her head when she noticed a slight limp in the Bloodbending master's gait. Korra didn't even really notice they were headed towards the edge of the small woods instead of the platform. Somehow she had lost herself in her thoughts that she hadn't even noticed the change of course.

Mingan stopped and turned around to face Korra. The Avatar bit back a gasp when the right side of Mingan's face turned towards her. An angry scar tore it's way from just under the corner of her eye down her cheekbone, into the shallows of her cheek and down the right side of her neck.

"The first thing you must know is that bloodbending is learned out of necessity," she said darkly.  
"A waterbender's body is acutely aware of every living thing around it, because where there is life, there is water. Water runs through our blood as does some of our chi. This blood-chi guards itself carefully because it is vital to our bending. Without blood-chi we cannot control the elements around us. Call it 'self-preservation' if you will," she said waving her hand dismissively. "But because our blood-chi guards itself so fiercely, it makes it incredibly difficult to reach out and _steal _control of blood from other bodies. This is why bloodbending is only learned when we are under great distress of some kind."

"But Tarrlok didn't _have _to kidnap me, so why can he bloodbend anytime he wants?" Korra butted in.

Mingan held up a hand. "I said it was _learned _out of necessity, not _used_ out of necessity." She took a breath and prepared to explain it more clearly. "When bloodbenders initially learn to bend blood for the first time, it is a direct result of a very purposeful and necessary act. For Hama, it was her life that hung in the balance of the Fire Nation prisons. For Katara it was the life of her brother and the Avatar that made her bloodbend. For Amon and Tarrlok it was their father that pushed them to the most extreme of waterbending. For you, I cannot say what it will be, but you must first have the knowledge of how to bend blood for you to be _able_ to actually_ use_ it. Without my teaching, you will never be able to bloodblend, so pay close attention." Korra took note of how Mingan convientiantly left out her trigger for bloodbending.

Mingan led her into the frozen woods and stopped alongside a small sapling. "Your first lesson is that water is found in places you never think of. It dwells deep within trees but the bark distorts how we feel the water within it. So you must find your center," she slid into a wider stance and lifted her hand towards the sapling, "focus, and pull the water out of the bark." From the sapling Mingan tore a fistful of water. The little tree turned from winter-grey to black and wilted instantly. It made Korra cringe, but she knew she had to watch. Mingan didn't seem to notice. "But water is a life-giving substance and with the right skill, it can be replaced." As she said it, she pushed the water back into the sapling and it slowly straightened.

Korra's jaw fell open as she looked between the sapling and Mingan as the woman guided the water through the little tree. Mingan was concentrating hard, her eyebrows furrowed and her mouth in a hard line."That's amazing!" She blurted.

"But it does not work on everything. I'm afraid something anymore complicated than a plant cannot be saved simply by pushing water through its veins. There is so much more involved in an animal's system that water alone cannot restore something to life that's dead. Now," she said walking to another sapling, "I want you to try."

Korra took a steadying breath and reached her hands towards the sapling and closed her eyes, struggling to feel the water within the bark. She adjusted her wrists and fingers, trying to feel out the liquid. She searched for a moment. _There!_ She felt a ripple in her fingertips that reverberated up her arms and spread through her body. _It was just like bending water from an underground source!_ She pulled her hands towards her core. The sapling gave a little shudder and Korra pulled harder. She bit her lip and channeled the water from the back of the sapling and towards the side closest to her and suddenly, she was holding large droplets in front of her which she quickly shaped into a more manageable sphere.

"Good. Do it again," Mingan instructed.

"But shouldnt I put it back first?"

"No. That takes greater skill than we have time to learn."

Korra stepped close to another sapling and pulled the water from it as well. She practiced like this for hours. Mingan gave her pointers when she struggled and eventually she moved onto saplings that were as big around as her arm.

A while later and Mingan had led them back towards the edge of the trees. By this time Korra had peeled out of her parka and down to only the thin-long sleeved shirt that she wore next to her skin. "You're a quick learner. Come on, we'll work on some more techniques."

Korra was grateful for the break, her arms were sore from her fingertips to her shoulders. Mingan stood in the middle of the large circular concrete pad and pulled her own parka from her body. She pulled another layer off until she was at the layer next to her skin. Her bulky pants only made her waist look smaller than it was. She was a small woman with very slight curves do to her lithe, athletic build. She cracked her fingers and rolled her shoulders feeling a satisfying chain of pops down her back.

Her body was battle-scarred and worn into the killing machine it was. Mingan was nothing but muscle, Korra could easily deduce that as she saw her muscles pull taut as she made a swooping circle with her arms and gathered a strand of water around herself. Korra wondered how someone not much older than herself could have become so old. Well, at least in her personality. There was an air of wisdom and knowledge that surrounded the little woman. Korra gathered water from the water basin as Mingan did, and held the water around her in a vine.

"You must learn strength and control to master bloodbending, especially control. I want you to narrow the vine like this," Mingan pushed her water into a tiny thread. Korra almost lost hers when it got that small but she held it together. They worked tirelessly shaping the water into large and thin shapes, moving it all around, threading it through the cracks in the concrete, around the trees a little ways off. Korra was drenched in sweat and panting by the time Mingan decided to call it quits. "You are very talented Avatar. We will continue in the morning."

Korra ran off to meet Bolin and Mako for practice.

She stumbled into the gym, tripping over her own feet in the rush. "Glad to see you finally decided to show up," Mako grumbled throwing a ball of flame at the target. She gave his back a hard glare and set her bag down along the wall. Bolin kicked up a disk of stone and kicked it the net.

"Hey, Love," Bolin smiled as he punched another disk across the room.

"Hi, Bo," she returned.

"How was the bloodbending practice?"

"I didn't bend any blood if that's what you're asking," she said, her mood taking a nose dive.

"Oh. Well when do you do that? I thought that was the whole point," he said.

"It's only been a day."

"True."

"And besides, Master Mingan said that I won't be able to bloodbend for the first time until I'm under some kind of great stress."

"Mingan," Mako said, tasting the name. "That's got to mean something," he added in randomly. He threw an uppercut, ducking and weaving from his reflection in a full length mirror.

"I don't know. She seems like a strange character all together to me," Korra replied throwing a few fireballs to ease back into the modern bending style.

"What makes you say that?" Mako asked.

"I don't know, she just-" Korra threw a fiery punch at the opposite wall, "She just seems...dark to me, like she's hiding something."

Bolin stopped moving and turned to face her. "Like something suspicious? Dangerous?"

"No..." she kicked the air and then jabbed a few times, "Not something dangerous...just something bad. I don't know, Bolin, she just kind of gives me the creeps."

"Hmm maybe she's a witch or something," the green eyed earthbender suggested.

Korra stopped and gave him a dumb-striken face. "You're kidding right?"

"No think about it! A mysterious bloodbender just happens to show up and become your master! She gives you the willies and she's hiding something! It all adds up! I bet she's all wrinkly and scary," he said making his hands into claws and snarling.

"Actually," she said snaking water towards a target, "she's not much older than us."

Bolin perked right up at this. "Really now? Is she cute?"

"BOLIN!" Mako and Korra scolded at the same time.

"What? I was just asking."

"She's strange, that's for sure." The trio went back to work and ended an hour of practice with a good match of sparring. Korra tried some of the new moves Mingan had showed her. She found that narrowing her water down to a little string made it easier to get into someones guard. She'd have to remember that for the next match.

She went home and crashed, falling into a deep sleep, exhausted from the days work. She was woken early by a very bubbly Ikki telling her that Mingan wanted her up and ready for practice. She didn't even have time for breakfast as she bustled around. She was practically shoved out the door by Tenzin telling her not to be late, Pema arguing the whole time about breakfast being that most important meal of the day.

Thye warmed up and stretched wordlessly in the biting morning air. "Your second lesson is respect. You've been given the knowledge of a terrible gift and when you use it, you must understand what you are doing." Mingan told her to practice the moves from yesterday as she spoke. "All life should be treated with respect, even the trees we practice on. Animals especially. Some of them may depend on us for their food and shelter, like the common house pet. We shouldn't neglect those animals even though we are clearly above them, they count on us to keep them safe and we should do so without hesitation. However, when we face some animals, we depend on _them_ not to kill _us_."

She walked to the edge of the slab, critiqued Korra's form and then continued. "The gray wolf, one of the first full-blooded animals, is the epitome of respect. One wrong move and a wolf will kill you in a instant. They are to be respected as hunters, as an animal far more dangerous than us. They were the first silent killers. The first to ever work as a team and the very creature to invent stealth. But there are those animals that cross the lines of domestic and wild; take your bear Naga. She is one of the few animals that can kill a human on a whim and yet trusts them enough to allow you to bring her into a life of domestication. She and others like her are nothing short of honorable and should be treated with the utmost respect.

Korra nodded. Of course she already knew these things about Naga but she had never really seen her in that light before.

It was another long morning of practice. Korra was getting better and faster at extracting the water from trees under Mingan's supervision. She was even able to pull water from the trees and narrow it into a needle-like thread within just a few seconds. She looked to Mingan for approval and was awarded with a beautiful smile from the young woman. Korra hadn't seen her smile before, but she felt it suited her face very well. "You are improving, Avatar."

They took a quick a short lunch break and then were right back at it again.

"Hey, Korra!" A light voice called happily through the winter air. She spun around and saw Bolin jogging up the hill to meet her on the platform of stone. She couldn't help but smile at the green parka he wore and the dog-eared hat to match. She looked over his shoulder and saw Mako trudging through the snow, looking very much...well, ruffled. His black coat looked a little tighter on him, probably due to the fact he, no doubt, had a thick sweater on under it. His scarf was coiled around his neck and his head scrunched down in it to keep his ears warm. Korra couldn't help but laugh when she saw his brooding eyes and his bright red nose peeking up from the scarf.

"Who are these young men?" Mingan ask coldly.

"Oh," she said, caught off guard, "They're my teammates."

"Ah," Mingan said remembering a short conversation about the Pro-bending team that Korra participated in. "Why are they here?"

Korra was quickly getting the impression that Mingan didn't want them here...at all. "I actually don't know," she answered truthfully.

Bolin grinned upon reaching Korra and Mingan. He took a good long look at Mingan's petite little frame, covered in a form-fitting sweater. Korra wanted to jerk his head around by the ear and scold him. She knew just from the short time she had been around Mingan that the older girl did not like nonsense. And Bolin was the very definition of nonsense.

"Well hello there," Bolin purred.

Korra dug her heel into the ground and shot a rock up at the back of Bolin's head. She smiled innocently over her shoulder at Mingan and shrugged. "Bolin, this is Master Mingan. Master, this is Bolin, our earthbender. The Master stuck her hand out politely and Bolin took a deep bow and kiss the back of her glove-covered fingers.

"What a pleasure it is to meet you," he greeted smoothly. It was then Mako decided to finally show up.

"And this is Bolin's brother, Mako, our firebender. Mako this is Master Mingan." They shook hands firmly. Korra thought the gesture held another purpose other than being polite, for Mingan at least. She saw the little woman look up at Mako and give his hand a hard shake. There was no doubt she saw the same serious attitude in Mako she herself possessed and quite frankly, she was sizing him up.

"Now, the Avatar and I have lessons that need to be completed," she said in a chilly voice. Korra thought for sure she saw Mako gulp, but Bolin (being his dubious self) didn't seem to take the hint.

"Actually we were kind of thinking we could take Korra away for a while and go to-" he started.

"Absolutley not," Mingan said, her tone clearly warning Bolin not to press the matter. That was when Korra saw Mako stiffen a little. Bolin was used to be treated as a junor even by someone who was not much older than he was (courtesy of being raised by Mako) but his firebending brother didn't like the idea of being pushed around by someone who couldn't have been born only two or three years earlier than himself. Korra was glad when he didn't retaliate.

"But we thought-" the younger brother was cut off again.

"I said no. Avatar Korra still has much to learn."

"I-"

"And she does not have a lot of time to do it either," Mingan growled lowly. Bolin piped down and seemed to shrink a little into his coat collar. Korra gave him an apologetic smile and turned back to Mingan.

The Master settled into a firm stance and gathered a string of water around her and began to thin it in a few places and widen it in others. Korra lifted her arms to mimic the movements without the element first. Mingan widened her fingers a little and flattened the water out. Korra wasn't quite sure what the purpose of this was but soon found out when she took a section of the wider part and shot it a long, dead weed in the distance. The water disc sliced through the weed and the top of it went flying off. She was about to send another razor sharp disk off when Bolin suddenly started talking again and the water splashed at Mingans feet. The little woman whipped around and stomped up to Bolin and stood only a few feet away from his toes. "I don't like you," she snarled pointing a finger up at him.

"But I-"

"Stop talking!" She snapped. And that's when Mako went to stand next to his brother and tower over Mingan. She didn't seem the least bit impressed by his height.

"I think we should wait for them back at the house, Bo," he said coolly, not taking his amber eyes from Mingan's icy blue ones. And with that, they bending brothers went back to the house complex and left Mingan and Korra alone to finish their lesson.

It was silent between them for a long time before Korra spoke up. "I know this is going to sound odd, but Bolin only gets that annoying when he likes someone."

"I don't have time to deal with men," Mingan answered shortly.

"He's a really nice guy," Korra said as she worked on pulling water from a tree quite a ways off, "you, know if you give him a chance."

Mingan let out a s long sigh and returned her water to the basin. "I can see our practice has been rendered useless for today," she pulled her parka back on. "Too many distractions. We will continue tomorrow morning before sunrise. It will give you a chance to practice in the waning moments of the moonlight." Korra followed closely behind Mingan, thoroughly surprised. The water tribe woman didn't seem to be the one to cancel a session so easily and it left Korra dumbfounded. "Those last few moments before the sun rises and the moon sets is a particular confusing time for waterbenders. It will do you a lot of good to practice then," she said. Korra was even more surprised when Mingan went to the main part of the living complex where (Tenzin's family and Korra lived) instead of going to her wing of the large building. "Bolin and Mako correct?" Korra was sure her jaw hit the greeting mat.

"Uh, yeah." Mingan nodded and stepped inside. The radio was softly playing an upbeat brassy piece when the two waterbenders walked inside. Bolin and Mako were sprawled out on the furniture and looked equally as surprised as Korra when they spotted Mingan. But Mako was the first to recover.

"Tenzin said they all were headed out to see some play for the kids across the bay, said he'd be back this evening."

"Yeah, the little ankle biters wouldnt stop talking about it. Tenzin said it would be educational for them to see an reinactment of Aang's life," Korra smiled and rolled her eyes. "But we all know he wanted to see it just as bad."

Mako and Bolin chuckled in agreement. Korra kicked her snow gear off and went and collapsed onto a fluffy cushion the floor. She noticed that the boy's attention was not present any longer. They had their eyes trained on Mingan.

Her back was facing them, obviously unaware they were all staring at her. She pulled her sweater over her head revealing to be wearing a shirt much like Korra's in cut. The sweater revealed hard shoulders whose muscles rolled under her skin with every movement she made, but the thing that had them all wondering was the assemblage of pale scars that covered most of her dark skin. However, none of them except maybe one seemed to match in severity as the one on her face. And it was that notion of common thought between the three of them that sent all of their imaginations reeling. Who is the _world _was this woman?

"What? Never seen a few battle scars before?" Mingan asked, snapping them all out of their trance. Mako and Korra were able to cage their questions behind their teeth but Bolin was basically word vomiting all over the place.

"Not that many. How did you get all those?" A simultaneous smack filled the room as Mako and Korra slapped their foreheads. Mingan settled delicately in a chair across from them. Despite the dainty position she placed her body in, she looked like a coiled rat-snake, ready to strike at any second if the need was to arise.

"Master I'm so sorry-" Korra began.

She held up a scarred hand. "No. It's alright. It's an honest question." She then looked at Bolin The light revealed many more scars on her arms. "I've had a more...interesting...life than most people my age. I was assigned at an early age to learn bloodbending and learning that particular skill to a mastery does not come without it's bumps and bruises." _Those scars could hardly be called bumps and bruises _the Fire Ferrets all seemed to think. "But I acquired a lot of these when I moved to the Earth Kingdom to sharpen my bloodbending skills. Let's just say some areas of the Earth Kingdom are not very friendly," she said with a dark smile. There was a particularly gnarly, twisted scar she pointed to. It seemed to wrap around her bicep, the end of the scar ended with a mark that seemed to be inflicted with something that had sharp barbs. "I got this from a Shereshrew. Nasty things. I couldn't bend in this arm for a week," she chuckled.

Korra very discreetly pinched Mako's leg to remind him to shut his slack jaw. She looked to Bolin for his reaction. "Wow, you sound really brave." It was very obviously a flirty comment. She looked over to Mingan and saw her push her bangs away from her eyes. She didn't seem too impressed, but shifted in her seat none the less.

"Maybe it's because I _am_ really brave," she smirked. Hmm Korra had never seen such...well, such personality from Mingan before. Maybe she really wasnt the stoic pillar she appeared to be.

"Perhaps," Bolin smirked back.

"Does anyone want tea?" Mako asked suddenly getting up and walking towards the kitchen. They all agreed it would be nice to warm up with it so he made a full pot. They all sat together on the floor and sipped at the hot beverage making small talk until the pot of tea was empty. Somehow, Mako had somehow managed to bring up his bending skills. It made Mingan chuckle.

"You wouldn't stand a chance," she said.

"You'd be surprised. Bolin and I didn't exactly have an ideal childhood either."

"Oh? This sounds like something I would like to hear." Mako told them about growing up on the streets, but only touched on important details, much like Mingan had done.

Korra meanwhile was toying around with a green plant that sat in a decorative pot across the room. She tried to feel the water in the veins of the leafy vegetation. She figured it would be easier than pulling something from a tree that was in hibernation. And suddenly she had jerked the whole of the water from the plant. It was then it dawned on her that this was Pema's favorite house plant that she had worked so hard on to keep alive through the winter. "Oh no," she blurted.

"What?" Mako asked.

"I totally just mangaled Pema's plant."

Mingan knew what Korra was going to do before she even started to do it. "Wait. It takes a great amount of skill to return water to a plant. If it's not done correctly you can damaged the plant worse than when it was dead." Well, Pema was going to kill Korra, end of story, end of life.

"Help?" Korra squeaked still holding the water a few inches from the plant.

"Oh no," Mingan smiled crossing her arm and sitting back in her seat. "This is an important lesson for you, Avatar. I was going to tell you this tomorrow but now seems to be the perfect time. You must learn to think before you act. Or else, you may regret doing something," she waved a hand towards the blackened plant. "And now you must pay for your actions by the wrath of Master Tenzin's wife."

"What!? Can't you just put it back in there for me!?"

"No."

"But, but- Pema-!" Korra fumbled.

"You have to learn these things, Avatar." There was a horrified pause as Korra stared at the plant in the corner of the room. "I for one think it's better for you to learn this way than with a human body gasping for air at your feet," she said darkly. Korra felt a shudder radiate deep within her body. She was right. And with that horrible thought, the water splashed at the basse of the pot and Korra wrapped her arms around herself. She then truly understood the horrible gift she'd been given. And she hated it. Hated it with every fiber of her being, but it was too late now. She knew too much. There was a heavy silence that settled over the for young benders.

"Korra," Mako started.

"Leave her alone. She will figure it out on her own," Mingan said getting up and leaving the room. Korra found something deep inside herself that she identified as the healer part of herself. She gathered the water and slowly put the water back to the tips of the leaves. She treated it much like a healing, but this time she was working with something that was void of water, therefore, she was completely blind as to where she should return the liquid. She closed her eyes and let out a long steady breath. Suddenly, the water seemed to glow in a vision she had never seen before; bending sight. It was more of a feeling but just about as good as optical vision. And as she mapped the water back through the tiny veins of the plants, she understood. She understood the real reason for needling out the water the way Mingan had showed her. When she had said she didnt have time to teach Korra how to return water to the plant in which she took it from, she had in fact been showing her how to do it all along. The young Avatar was able to narrow the water down into incredibly tiny vines and weave through the intricacies of the veins of the plant. And upon hearing an awed sound form Bolin and Mako, she opened her eyes. The plant was standing up straight, full and as healthy as it had been before she ever took the water from it. She truly understood Mingans lesson of respect and even learning from necessity. While she hadn't bloodbent, she had given something life-giving back to the plant out of fear of death by Pema and from the fear of her deadly, monsterous gift.

A huge grin spread over her face and she looked at Bolin and Mako whose expression matched hers. And back from the kitchen was Mingan, smiling just as wide and with a nod of approval. And then...the most beautiful sound filled the room. Mingan was laughing. And instantly the trance was broken and Bolin was totally and helplessly smitten with the Master Bloodbender. "One would think you'd never seen a plant restored before," Mingan chuckled.

"I haven't," Mako and Bolin chimed at the same time even thought Mingan had been talking to Korra.

"Good job, Avatar," she rewarded. It made Korra feel very good about herself and she smiled back at her teacher. Despite her abrasive personality, Mingan was actually a pretty nice person. She went back to her spot on the floor and gave a stretch. "Now if you can do that tomorrow morning, I'll _really _be impressed," she laughed.

"Why?" Mako asked.

"Because, if Korra is able to restore a plant in the hour before dawn it will be a huge accomplishment. She is a newcomer to this afterall."

"What's so special about the hour before dawn?" Bolin asked.

"For waterbenders it's the most challenging time to bend. The moon is starting to shrink away and the sun is rising in her place. When this happens, the main source in which waterbenders draw from is changing to something firebenders draw their power from. The shift in celestial powers makes it a confusing time for waterbenders to adjust from drawing from the moon to changing into bending from the reserves of the moon they've soaked into their blood."

"Then is it the same way when the sun sets and the moon rises?" Mako asked.

"No, in fact that's when many people under estimate waterbenders," she smirked darkly. "Once the moon takes place of the sun, we get almost... a surge, of power. We no longer have to bend from reserves, but we can draw directly from the moon. If you were in a fight, per say, with a waterbender, most people think it takes a little while for a waterbender to get comfortable with the switch from daylight to moonlight, when it fact it is an instant change and the waterbender is very suddenly at an advantage and usually the opponent is taken off-guard."

"Wow. I never knew all that stuff," Bolin smiled at her. And Mingan actually gave him a small smile back. The day soon turned into evening and Mako remembered something.

"Master, we were talking yesterday and were wondering if your name meant something? Like a definition. I personally thought it sounded important."

"My name translate to Gray Wolf. The gray wolf is a very important of the water tribe culture. He represents strength, intelligence and power. The wolf was the animal that invented a silent kill; stealth. He was also the first animal to ever hunt in a pack. It's from him that our people learned to hunt. We still hunt in groups today, it makes it much easier to catch larger prey, and larger prey means more food for each individual in the pack. It's simply more practical."

"Awesome," Bolin grinned. "I wish we had such a cool backstory," he laughed nudging Mako in the ribs. And somehow this turned into everyone sharing something hilarious that had happened to them, one of which involved Bolin pushing Mako down that stairs.

"And just when did this happen?" Korra asked wiping a tear from her eye.

"Last week," Mako grumbled. It sent a whole new fit of laughter through the room.

Mingan fell quiet before the others did, abruptly so. Her sharp ears turned at the sound again. "Shh!" She silenced with a sharp tongue. She got up and headed towards the door.

"Mingan what's-" she gave Korra a look that just dared her to say another word. "Duck!" She screamed dodging aside from the door. That very same second an explosive detonated at the door, blowing a hole in the wall. Their ears felt as thought they had been filled with cotton. Mnigan stumbled to her feet, shell-shocked. Korra, Mako and Bolin recovered quicker and immediately leapt to face the intruders. The smoke cleared and an Eqaulist figure became present in the doorway. Bolin bent the dust away, allowing them to see five more pairs of glowing green eyes peering at them from the darkness outside. Mako leapt over the couch and threw a fiery fist towards the closest Equalist. Korra and Bolin launched into action. Korra blasted a wall of fire at the gaping hole where the door once was. She dove headfirst out the door and rolled into a stand. She stomped a shield of earth in front of her when a bolo came flying her way.

Bolin, Mako and Korra were soon spread out from each other, fighting their own rag tag team of Equalists. Korra heard Bolin yelp and looked over to where he stood fifty yards away. He had been knicked by an electrified bolo but managed to block it. Korra ducked a swing and arced her leg around and blasted a man with a ball of fire. "Where's Mingan!?" Mako yelled, dodging a jab.

"Don't worry about her, she can take care of herself!" Korra answered back. Her voice cracked as she felt her chi suddenly blocked from her left arm. She held it close as she spun, punched, kicked and dodged as fast as she could. She cried out when a Kali stick dug into the dip above her hip and electricity flooded her system. And then just as suddenly as it had occurred, the pain left her body. A strange crackling, grinding noise filled her ears. She looked to er attacker to see him frozen stiff. Korra gasped when his body suddenly contorted and he arced backwards due to some unseen force.

The Equalist's arms jerked out and then bent painfull behind his body. His chest was pushed out and Korra could see the pulse of his heart in the veins in his neck. Everything fell totally silent to the young Avatar. He cried out in pain and he went crashing to his knees. His hips were jerked back and his was thrown forward. His mask was dislodged when he hit the ground and the night vision goggles lay in the snow by his knees. He was suddenly jerked backwards and it seemed as if every bone in his body was being stretched to it's max as he was lifted a few inches off the ground. Korra could see how utterly terrified his was not that his face was fully visible. "Stop," she whispered. A horrified gasp leapt from his throat and sounds of despair and pain barely passed his lips and then suddenly he collapsed in on himself and hit the ground hard. He was dead. Behind him stood Mingan, lowering her arms. A maniacal smiled curved her lips into the darkest smirk Korra had ever seen.

"They don't call me the Silent Killer for nothing." And then she was off to help Bolin. Korra felt the wind by her head as an Equalist struck out with a Kali stick. She returned it with a kick to the head and trapped the last man in a pillar of rock. She raced towards Mako who leapt out of the way of a sharp jab. But he walked right into another Equalist fist, sending him falling into another set of knuckles. His eyes widened in shock and fear as he tumbled towards the snow. And then everything dragged into slow motion, but blurred by at high speed too. An Equalists reached out and caught Mako by the shoulder. Korra screamed when she the tip of a Kali stick become visible from behind the Equalists hip. And it was headed towards Mako's core at an alarming rate, so much force behind it that it might break skin and crack bone.

"No!" She screamed out as the end buried itself in his jacket. She reached out her hands and felt something throbbing in her fingertips. Water. Blood. And she could bend it. She closed her fingers around the red fluid in the mans body. He crumbled in on himself and the Kali stick fell to the snow behind him. She felt his pulse in her hands...in her own body and it made her sick. She sought out the water in his blood and forced it to move to her will. She jerked her arm to the side sending the man crashing backwards into the snow. His head hit hard and Korra felt a small bit of pressure escape the body. She felt the water in the blood before it even stained the snow around his head. She jerked her hands back to her body and stumbled over her own feet towards Mako. She faintly heard someone screaming "retreat!" and "we're not prepared for this!" and then it was still on the flat of snow.

Bolin and Mingan were beside her, the Equalist not having run away with the others. Korra crashed to her knees before she reached Mako's side, still horrified by what she had just done. Bolin helped Mako sit up and Mingan, seeing that they were ok turned to Korra.

The Avatar felt eyes on her and looked up to Mingan who suddenly seemed a hundred feet tall. She followed Mingan's gaze to the body not ten feet away and then met her eyes again. "I've done what I came here to do. I taught you all I could, but now you have to learn the rest on your own. It is not something that can been taught, only learned. Congratulations, Korra, you're a bloodbender."

Korra cried herself to sleep that night, and the night after that, and the night after that. Now she sat in the living room with Tenzin, Bolin and Mako. _"Who was she?"_ It was the first question everyone wanted to know. It didnt even need to be asked. "Mingan was trained from her childhood to complete covert missions. She was taught to bloodbend when she was twelve, the same year she mastered waterbending. She found her own ways to cope with her gift, she adapted the ways of the ancient Water Tribes and the ways of the ancient animals, which made her the responsible Bloodbender that she it. She is a trained, and deadly assasin."


End file.
